


It's a Deal

by worm_blooded



Series: Strange Encounters [3]
Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Merlin (TV)
Genre: Marvel - Freeform, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-05-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:21:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24381217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worm_blooded/pseuds/worm_blooded
Summary: Oh no! Looks like Stephen got a bit too carried away with those apples, and a midnight visit kicks things into gear...
Series: Strange Encounters [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1431001
Kudos: 4





	It's a Deal

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure how the formatting works on this site, I probably should just be tacking these on as chapters to a greater work but oh well ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

“Oh, end my existence, I beg you,” groaned Stephen.

Wong paused mid-stride on his way to the kitchen and knocked on the door of the water closet.

“I told you to go easy on those inter-dimensional apples,” called Wong, “when you’re done in there, I have a pot of mystic charcoal tea brewing on the stove for you.”

“They think they can just slap ‘mystic’ on anything and expect me to feel better? I don’t even want to look at anything magical ever again,” sputtered Stephen.

“It’ll help with getting the last of the cyanide out of your system, it’s really just the seeds you shouldn’t have eaten--”

A loud, drawn-out trumpeting echoing from across the door interrupted him. Wong got the hint. He made his was back to the kitchen. Upon opening the door it bumped against something with a muffled thud.

“Oh, sorry Merlin!” said Wong, peering around the door, “Did the library not work out either?”

On the floor behind the door lay a mess of blankets and a very tired old man.

“It’s that blasted traffic!” he grumbled, staring at the ceiling bleary-eyed, “don’t get me wrong, I am immensely grateful for your hospitality, it’s just that I’ve been so spoiled by the calm of the woods for the past millennium and a half. It’s about time I get used to the hustle and bustle of modern life, I suppose.”

“I’ll see if I can dig up a dampening incantation to drape the sanctum in,” offered Wong helpfully.

Wong then closed the door, and redirected himself to the library. After a moment of riffling through a few stacks of paper in the far corner, he found what he was looking for and sat himself down at the main desk. He moved aside a cup to make room—his coffee from the morning, now stale. He sighed and took a sip, accepting that that was the best he was going to get that night.

~

It had been a while until Stephen had finally settled down his stomach enough to get some sleep. His digital clock blinked 3 am. He had scarcely shut his eyes when he felt all the hairs on his skin stand on end. He sat bolt upright, and focused his vision on a blurry figure in the corner of his room. The darkness melted away into static, and the figure came closer. When it walked across a shaft of light bleeding through the curtains, he breathed a sight of relief, yet hesitated before inhaling once again.

“Jeez, I thought you were a sleep paralysis demon or something,” breathed Stephen.

“That’s kind of the point,” replied Clea, “It comes part and parcel with the job description, you know.”

She reached the foot of his bed and gracefully folded herself onto it, her legs crossed beneath her.

“Listen, I respect your intelligence so I’m not going to beat around the bush. I assume you remember the conversation that I had with my brother earlier. I am to become queen of the Dark Dimension. Before my coronation can take place though, I must be betrothed. My parents have started looking for possible suitors, however I have no interest in that pursuit nor the throne, as I’m sure you recall me saying.”

She said these words matter-of-factually, yet she looked as though her body was slowly deflating.

“There is one way to postpone this affair, however,” she continued, “and that is if I undertake an apprenticeship. Every master I have gone to so far has turned me down, there is such a stigma against beings of the Dark Dimension, after all. I figured that humans would be more willing as they readily deal with my people and have been for generations.”

Stephen blinked, he took a few moments to process her words.

“But would your parents take this arrangement seriously? I always assumed that your kind looked down on us, how would my teachings be of any value in their eyes?”

“Being an effective ruler for my people means learning how to keep the peace between the realms. I would tell my parents that it would be a fine education in the laws that govern the Earth. An inter-dimensional ambassador training of sorts.”

Stephen leaned back against his bed frame and pondered this arrangement. He had never had an apprentice before, and the lull of the past few months had left him and Wong in desperate need of company. He smiled.

“It’s a deal,” he said, extending his hand for a shake.

Clea took it, and the static engulfing her form dissipated.

“Fantastic news, I’ll tell my parents at once.”

With a loud pop she disappeared in a ball of sparks, and Stephen was once again bathed in the darkness of his room.

~

“So let me get this straight,” Wong sighed, “You’re taking on this woman as an apprentice, yet you hardly know her?”

Stephen sat slumped over the kitchen table, his stomach was still ailing him. Merlin sat beside him happily downing a plate of scrambled eggs.

“She seems like she really needs the help, I would too if I were being forced into marriage,” mumbled Stephen.

“ _Seems_ like?” said Wong incredulously, “Stephen, she is a being of the Dark Dimension. I am baffled at how quickly you gave her your trust. Do you not recall the incident with Dormammu and his zealots?”

“Listen, that is very prejudiced of you. Way to stereotype an entire freaking dimension, Wong.”

Wong gave a long and dramatic roll of the eyes.

“Never mind the fact that she is a demon, Stephen, but how do you expect to mentor someone if you yourself haven’t even mastered all the intermediate incantations yet?”

“Oh, I don’t believe it would be much of a magical mentorship. She said that she needed more of an ambassador type of training, to maintain favourable relations with the Earth when she eventually takes the throne.”

“Favourable relations indeed!” muttered Wong as he poured himself a cup of coffee, “oh, and by the way, I hope you realise that I don’t exist solely to look after you. Merlin here is our guest, and I’ll happily fill the role of gracious host during his stay with us. However, Stephen, if you are a guest in this sanctum—as you seem to carry yourself—you have long since overstayed your welcome. You can start by replenishing the food you so eagerly scarf down by doing regular grocery runs. And if that woman is to stay with us, I expect you to look after her as well.”

Stephen moaned and pealed himself from his seat.

“Alright, alright. I’ll do a run on my way home from work,” he said as he shuffled out of the kitchen.


End file.
